When William Harvey was a young man, he traveled to Italy and studied medicine at the University of Padua. While there, he learned about the Catholic Church’s views on human anatomy.
The Church believed that the human body was made up of four elements: earth, air, fire and water. They also believed that it was static and unchanging.
But as Harvey began his own research into anatomy, he found that these beliefs were not accurate. The human body was actually made up of many different parts with their own functions. It also changed constantly, with its parts in constant motion.
The Church believed that the soul was the only thing that was immortal—but when Harvey examined bodies after they had died, he found that their parts could die as well—including their hearts and brains! These discoveries led him to believe that disease was caused by natural causes rather than evil spirits as previously thought by the Church leaders.
Harvey’s findings challenged everything we knew about how our bodies functioned at the time—and for centuries after his death in 1657 (at age 67), his discoveries were met with skepticism from his peers because they seemed so unbelievable compared to what everyone else had been taught growing up (or over time).
